KY lawmaker alters bill banning ‘sexually explicit’ drag after talking to Louisville queen
A Republican-backed bill that would ban “sexually explicit” drag shows, but allow drag queens to continue participating in drag story times at libraries, won approval from a Senate committee Thursday.
Senate Bill 147 from Sen. Lindsey Tichenor, R-Smithfield, is a proposal to regulate “adult-oriented businesses” and “sexually explicit” performances in public spaces. The House version from Rep. Nancy Tate, R-Brandenburg, is House Bill 402.
“We regulate and monitor insurance, horse racing, the financial industry, alcohol, real estate, the list is long,” Tichenor told members of the Senate Joint Committee on Veterans, Military Affairs and Public Protection, who voted along party lines to advance the bill.
“The intent of this bill is to set a regulation around this industry to ensure we are protecting communities and minors within those communities from exposure that may lead to negative adverse secondary effects,” she said.
The bill would establish statewide policy restricting where such performances can take place with the stated goal of shielding anyone under age 18. As Sen. Stephen Meredith, R-Leitchfield, said in committee before casting a “yes” vote for the bill, “Let kids be kids.”
But a committee substitution, or amendment, added to the bill Thursday morning attempted to narrow the definition of drag, and in doing so, potentially loosened restrictions on where such performances could continue taking place, compared with the previous version of the bill.
For example, the first version of Tichenor’s bill would have outlawed drag story times at libraries, because libraries are public spaces. The latest version “does not limit” an appearance of that nature, she said, and instead only prohibits “drag performances with sexually explicit conduct.”
But the bill does not fully define what’s considered “explicitly sexual conduct” in reference to drag. Rather, it outlaws any conduct in which a drag performer is “caricatured” and “exhibits an exaggerated gender expression that is inconsistent with the biological sex of the performer” by using “clothing, makeup, or other physical markers.”
In other words, Tichenor’s definition of “explicitly sexual conduct” in the realm of drag essentially just refers to what it means to be in drag. But in other parts of the bill defining performances and spaces that include “sexual conduct,” it’s referred to as containing “nudity.”
So, why is the definition for drag different, asked Louisville Democratic Sen. Karen Berg?
“Is there a different requirement for drag than for any other adult business?” Berg said. “The drag shows I’m used to do not have nudity or explicit sexual performances, where do those fall under this, and why are we not using the same language?”
Tichenor said she adjusted the language after having a conversation with Louisville’s Andrew Newton Schaftlein, who also performs as May O’Nays, a “Martha Stewart-type” who often performs in family-friendly spaces with children.
Schaftlein publicly asked to meet with the bill sponsors, in part to explain the nuance of drag that wasn’t reflected in the original version of the bills, he told the Herald-Leader. Conflating all drag shows with other adult-oriented performances as “somehow lacking moral clarity” is bothersome, Schaftlein said.
Referencing that meeting on Thursday, Tichenor told the committee it was a “great conversation,” and helped her see that not all drag is sexually explicit: “This is part of the legislative process: we put a bill out, we hear from people who have concerns, and then we make adjustments.”
The new version of the bill only seeks to keep drag that includes “explicitly sexual conduct” away from minors, she said, adding, “it’s not necessarily about what someone is wearing, a lot of times it’s the behavior of what they’re doing. I think it’s important we have two separate distinctions of drag performance — one that is sexually explicit, which we define, and one that’s not.”
Still, Berg said, if the bill is targeting what would be sexually enticing to a minor, “why don’t we just say that overt nudity and sexually explicit performances are not done in public,” Berg said. “Why are we feeling the need to include drag separate from adult cabaret, other than the perception the community gets which is that you’re trying to specifically control one art form?”
The bill now groups drag under “adult cabaret,” and such performances and businesses who host them could not be within 933 feet — average distance of a city block — of any facility that children or youth may patronize, like houses of worship, schools, parks, child care facilities, and recreational areas.
Under a previous version of Tichenor’s bill, colleges and universities were among the venues where such performances would be banned. Her latest version has removed them, meaning drag shows could continue to be hosted on college campuses.
Those who spoke in opposition to the new version of the bill on Thursday included two drag queens, who said the bill’s definitions are still murky and ill-defined.
Kentucky drag queen Poly Tics said even the new version of the bill inadequately defines sexual conduct, and “it is still unclear if individuals who have disapproval of drag could bring civil cause of action against those performers.”
To Tichenor, Poly Tics said, “you mention it is not always the clothing, but how it is worn and the behaviors behind it.” Would those standards be “applicable to places such as Hooters Bar and Grill,” where though waitresses are clothed, “their behaviors may be interpreted as provoking sexual enticement?”
“I’m sure every person in this room would agree we have a specific need to address the health, safety and well-being of children,” Poly Tics said. But “targeting drag performances is by far one of the least impactful pieces of legislation that could be proposed to meet those needs.”
Before the committee voted along party lines to advance the bill, Sen. Meredith asked Poly Tics about the educational value of showing drag to children.
Seeing drag queens in a library setting at a story hour “leads to mass confusion,” Meredith said. “What do you think is possibly considered educational or entertainment of value to a (child) in that kind of environment?”
It’s about “freedom of expression,” Poly Tics said. And showing kids, or adults, that “regardless of who they love or how they want to present, they are protected, loved and seen.”
This story was originally published February 29, 2024 at 1:12 PM.
